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PST SPECIAL: Analysis Of NFL Draft Prospects With Matt Waldman · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:24
Speaker 1: Welcome to this Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show special podcast. Yes,
0:28
Speaker 1: it's a PSD special podcast because we have one of
0:32
Speaker 1: the best in the business when it comes to draft
0:35
Speaker 1: evaluations scouting evaluations. Again, one of the best in the business.
0:41
Speaker 1: We've got mister Matt Waldman with us this week, coming
0:44
Speaker 1: to us from his little studio areas we are getting
0:48
Speaker 1: set for this NFL Draft. Matt, Buddy, it is great
0:50
Speaker 1: to see you. Thanks so much for jumping on the
0:51
Speaker 1: Piladelphia Sports Table this week.
0:52
Speaker 2: Man, Yeah, Jeff, I always look forward to it. So
0:55
Speaker 2: this is gonna be fun, some fun time of year. Absolutely,
0:57
Speaker 2: people are excited about what the possibilities are gonna Yeah,
1:00
Speaker 2: you know how that's gonna work out.
1:01
Speaker 3: And it's been an intriguing class to study.
1:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely has. Let's get into just some of the prospects,
1:09
Speaker 1: of course that we're gonna be talking about. But the
1:11
Speaker 1: one gentleman that I wanted to really dive into is
1:14
Speaker 1: a guy named Travis Hunter, who all of us who
1:17
Speaker 1: follow college prospects and what may happen with this NFL
1:21
Speaker 1: draft and the talent in this draft. Matt, we usually
1:24
Speaker 1: don't see an offensive and defensive athlete like we have
1:28
Speaker 1: seen with Travis Hunter and the questions persisting about whether
1:33
Speaker 1: or not he's going to be playing mostly cornerback, mostly
1:36
Speaker 1: wide receiver, combination of both for whatever team ends up
1:40
Speaker 1: drafting him. And when it comes to him playing, say,
1:43
Speaker 1: wide receiver in the NFL, you do offensive draft analysis, Matt,
1:48
Speaker 1: I'm wondering what type of wide receiver comp should we
1:52
Speaker 1: be looking at when it comes to Travis Hunter. I mean,
1:55
Speaker 1: maybe perhaps a Justin Jefferson, maybe Larry Fitzgerald. I'm wondering
2:00
Speaker 1: what type of that mold does Travis Hunter fit into.
2:03
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts as you've been evaluating him, my friend?
2:06
Speaker 3: Sure?
2:07
Speaker 2: I mean well, I mean, first of all, Hunter has
2:10
Speaker 2: pretty much told the media that if he doesn't get
2:14
Speaker 2: to play both positions, he'll think about retiring.
2:19
Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing. I'm not even signed yet in the NFL,
2:22
Speaker 1: but I may retire if it doesn't work out the
2:24
Speaker 1: way I wanted to.
2:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, But I mean, listen, he's adamant. He wants
2:29
Speaker 2: to be He wants to be the next Sammy Ball
2:31
Speaker 2: or Jim Thorpe in terms of playing both sides of
2:33
Speaker 2: the ball. So it's admirable that he has that kind
2:36
Speaker 2: of aspiration. We're going to see how coaches handle that,
2:38
Speaker 2: and it's very possible that there's one scenario where he
2:43
Speaker 2: could get drafted and the coach and staff feels like
2:45
Speaker 2: he's more of it. He's better off as a cornerback,
2:48
Speaker 2: and others feel like he's better off as a wide receiver,
2:50
Speaker 2: and they're both positions that get drafted in the first
2:53
Speaker 2: round pretty early, though wide receiver makes more money on
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Speaker 2: the whole. Yes, so I would expect wide receivers the
3:00
Speaker 2: one that the teams will think will be the most impactful.
3:04
Speaker 2: But it's very possible that you could see some combination
3:07
Speaker 2: of both, or teams start off by saying we're going
3:10
Speaker 2: to put you in this one position primarily, but we're
3:13
Speaker 2: gonna let you do both, but it's going to be
3:15
Speaker 2: smaller packages. And then we'll see if they actually make
3:18
Speaker 2: good on making them a full time player at both. Yeah,
3:21
Speaker 2: you know, and see if maybe his perspective changes in
3:24
Speaker 2: the NFL with the rigors of the game and realizes,
3:28
Speaker 2: maybe I'm not helping my team as much by demanding
3:31
Speaker 2: this type of thing, because you know, twenty one, twenty two,
3:34
Speaker 2: twenty three years of age, you're an adult you're a
3:37
Speaker 2: grown man, but you don't have a lot of experience
3:39
Speaker 2: being an adult or a grown man.
3:41
Speaker 1: Absolutely, especially around veterans who have been in the league
3:44
Speaker 1: for so long. Depending on what team he goes to.
3:47
Speaker 1: I mean, there are veterans in this league that are
3:49
Speaker 1: going to say, hey, listen, slow up, put on the brakes, Travis. Okay,
3:53
Speaker 1: you know this is our league, our team. We've been
3:55
Speaker 1: here for quite some time. You're going to need to
3:57
Speaker 1: learn the ropes.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're not helping us pay my family's mortgage
4:02
Speaker 2: with us losing like this because you're tired, or that
4:06
Speaker 2: you're unprepared, or that you didn't understand this coverage because
4:09
Speaker 2: you're trying to split your time between two things. Or
4:12
Speaker 2: it turns out that he is doing it well and
4:14
Speaker 2: proves everybody that proves himself right.
4:16
Speaker 3: So that's very possible.
4:18
Speaker 2: But I think as a in terms of comparisons go
4:22
Speaker 2: you know, certainly when you mentioned to Justin Jefferson, Larry Fitzgerald,
4:25
Speaker 2: those guys who win the ball very well, who run
4:28
Speaker 2: strong routes, and so there's some there's some things there
4:31
Speaker 2: that you can make that type of comparison. If I'm
4:33
Speaker 2: going to make a comparison between the types of physical
4:39
Speaker 2: skills that Travis Hunter has, his body composition, you know,
4:45
Speaker 2: how he plays the game, what he does well technically,
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Speaker 2: I would say maybe those guys don't match up as
4:52
Speaker 2: strongly to me in terms of height and weight and
4:56
Speaker 2: those skills, though he shares some of those things to
4:59
Speaker 2: win the ball, I would say, maybe more of a
5:01
Speaker 2: Christal Lava or or a Ricky Piersoll, but better you know,
5:08
Speaker 2: and and Chris a lovey. We really haven't seen him
5:11
Speaker 2: hit his ceiling yet because he's playing with a hospital
5:14
Speaker 2: ball thrower and Derek Carr, who you know. I think
5:18
Speaker 2: that Chris and and Michael Thomas still sitting somewhere at home.
5:23
Speaker 2: It's still raven on x about how bad Derek Carr
5:27
Speaker 2: is as a as a teammate to play with. But
5:32
Speaker 2: that aside, I would say, if you look at Hunter,
5:36
Speaker 2: you know the rock runnings there, the skill after the
5:38
Speaker 2: catch is strong. He certainly can win targets that are
5:42
Speaker 2: away from his frame and a tight coverage. I'd like
5:46
Speaker 2: to see him get a little bit more, have a
5:49
Speaker 2: better plan at the boundary and he is releasing against
5:53
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage. I think that he does well
5:56
Speaker 2: in the college game, but some of the choices he
5:58
Speaker 2: makes have gotten him pinned to the boundary and the
6:02
Speaker 2: and we'll get him pinned more often to the boundary
6:04
Speaker 2: in the pro game if he doesn't figure out that
6:06
Speaker 2: plan a little bit better. Yeah, but it's not you know,
6:10
Speaker 2: it's not awful. He's He's a guy that would have
6:13
Speaker 2: been easily in my top five to six and last
6:16
Speaker 2: year's star studed wide receiver class. And I think to
6:20
Speaker 2: say he's a better version of Chris Olave in terms
6:22
Speaker 2: of what is his ceiling could be tells you that
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Speaker 2: he can very much be a number one primary wide
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Speaker 2: receiver for a team.
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Speaker 1: It's going to be really interesting to see not only
6:33
Speaker 1: what team he goes to. As we're talking about that impact,
6:36
Speaker 1: you're talking about his skill set, Matt, how he's able
6:40
Speaker 1: to transform from the college ranks over to the NFL.
6:44
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a fascinating storyline over
6:46
Speaker 1: the next couple of years, because, as we know wide receivers,
6:49
Speaker 1: they don't just come in the league and start dominating,
6:51
Speaker 1: or they don't really find their footing until you know,
6:53
Speaker 1: well into that first contract that they have. So it's
6:56
Speaker 1: gonna be a real, real interesting storyline with Hunter moving
6:59
Speaker 1: far and really quick. Folks, I failed to mention where
7:03
Speaker 1: you can find Matt Waldman and his amazing work right
7:07
Speaker 1: at the beginning of our discussion. I get so excited
7:09
Speaker 1: when Matt's on, folks, I just got I got all
7:12
Speaker 1: starry eyed.
7:13
Speaker 3: You know that's too funny.
7:16
Speaker 1: Go to Matt Waldman r SP dot com. That's where
7:20
Speaker 1: the Rookie Scouting Portfolio is that he has been creating
7:23
Speaker 1: for years and years and years. Again one of the
7:26
Speaker 1: best in the business. Again, the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Matt Waldman,
7:31
Speaker 1: r SP dot com. And I know you're on like
7:34
Speaker 1: various social media sites too, correct. I mean we're all
7:37
Speaker 1: at this point, I think on just about everything. But
7:40
Speaker 1: I know you're on Twitter. I think you are on
7:42
Speaker 1: threads as well. If I'm not mistaked, I would say
7:45
Speaker 1: you're fine.
7:46
Speaker 3: Most of my stuff on X Blue.
7:47
Speaker 2: Sky and YouTube, so nice at Matt Waldman at the
7:52
Speaker 2: at the you know, more content orient stuff. And then
7:55
Speaker 2: Matt Waldman's RSB Film Room is my YouTube channel.
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Speaker 1: It's been around very good, Yes, exactly. You find a
8:01
Speaker 1: lot of great stuff on there, for sure. All right, Well, Matt,
8:04
Speaker 1: I know that our listeners folks who are watching this
8:07
Speaker 1: as well, we'd love to get into the quarterback talk
8:10
Speaker 1: heading into each and every NFL draft, and this draft
8:14
Speaker 1: no difference. So let's get into some of these guys here,
8:17
Speaker 1: some of these prospects, hoping we can talk about the
8:19
Speaker 1: top quarterback prospects in terms of their their pocket management,
8:22
Speaker 1: maybe their processing, and how it's going to relate to
8:26
Speaker 1: the NFL level of play after they are drafted. So
8:29
Speaker 1: let's kind of go through cam Ward, Shradar Sanders, and
8:33
Speaker 1: Jackson dart So why don't we start with cam Ward?
8:36
Speaker 1: Your thoughts, your evaluation on him. What we may be seeing,
8:40
Speaker 1: again from a pocket management standpoint is processing. What are
8:43
Speaker 1: your thoughts here about cam Ward and the evaluations that
8:46
Speaker 1: you have done well from.
8:47
Speaker 3: The college game.
8:48
Speaker 2: You know, you look at cam Ward and you realize
8:50
Speaker 2: that at Washington State and at Miami at his offenses
8:55
Speaker 2: were built largely on RPOs and screen games. And at
8:59
Speaker 2: Miami they did a lot of four verticals, which is
9:01
Speaker 2: basically everybody running a deep route, you know, and then
9:06
Speaker 2: having to check down with the with the running back okay,
9:09
Speaker 2: which encourages a lot of offscript type of play and
9:13
Speaker 2: He's excels off script. He's quick, he's dynamic. He's someone
9:17
Speaker 2: that can throw on the move. He can create plays.
9:21
Speaker 2: You know, he sees the field pretty well when it's
9:23
Speaker 2: in a broken situation like that, and and is takes
9:27
Speaker 2: appropriate chances and appropriate risks when there's an early play
9:32
Speaker 2: that opens up. You know, he can drop. He can
9:35
Speaker 2: finish his drop and deliver the ball downfield and be
9:38
Speaker 2: pretty accurate in the intermediate and deep range.
9:41
Speaker 3: On that level.
9:42
Speaker 2: He's when he has to slide to one side or
9:45
Speaker 2: the other, he does a pretty good job of that.
9:47
Speaker 3: His feet are very.
9:48
Speaker 2: Good in terms of being able to stay in a
9:51
Speaker 2: position to throw the football with a reasonable amount of accuracy.
9:55
Speaker 2: What I have concerns about with cam Ward is what
9:57
Speaker 2: you project down on the line is when you watch
10:00
Speaker 2: his drop patterns. You know, occasionally you'll see like a
10:05
Speaker 2: five step rollout or seven step rollout by design, and
10:08
Speaker 2: the feed are fluid and able to handle that. But
10:11
Speaker 2: when you're rolling out, you're never really having a termination
10:14
Speaker 2: point to set up and then throw. So when you
10:18
Speaker 2: watch him with drops that have a termination point, they're
10:21
Speaker 2: really fragmented. Like his three steps drops isn't fluid it's
10:26
Speaker 2: like he takes one step and then and then another
10:28
Speaker 2: two or it's not like one two three, it's like
10:32
Speaker 2: one two three or one two three or one two three. Right,
10:39
Speaker 2: It's just the rhythm is off. And you see that
10:42
Speaker 2: with three and five step drops. And why is that important?
10:44
Speaker 2: Because when you start playing in offenses that have more
10:49
Speaker 2: timing rots and they want you to get that ball
10:51
Speaker 2: out exactly at the top of your drop, or to
10:54
Speaker 2: be able to make a second read after the top
10:57
Speaker 2: of that drop. And if you don't have a defined
11:00
Speaker 2: rhythm or timing with that, that can really screw up
11:03
Speaker 2: how you're reading the field. And so that can become
11:06
Speaker 2: a problem, especially if you're not well practiced with it.
11:10
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you an example of last year
11:13
Speaker 2: where a player who had good drops at USC and
11:16
Speaker 2: even at Arkansas was Caleb Williams. But when you look
11:20
Speaker 2: at his offense under Shane Waldron at that time, there
11:25
Speaker 2: were some isolated plays that they ran routinely where Shane
11:30
Speaker 2: Waldron in the playbook didn't have prescribed drops. So Caleb
11:35
Speaker 2: Williams it was just like just get back there and
11:38
Speaker 2: assess and throw. The problem with that is maybe he
11:41
Speaker 2: should have used a two step drop or one or
11:44
Speaker 2: a punch drop, or maybe he should have been a
11:45
Speaker 2: three step drop, maybe should have been a five step drop.
11:48
Speaker 2: And if you don't know from time to time drop
11:51
Speaker 2: what the drop should be and you're trying to figure
11:53
Speaker 2: it out, you're not on the same page with your
11:56
Speaker 2: receivers with the timing you need, especially in tight man coverage,
11:59
Speaker 2: and those plays don't work.
12:00
Speaker 3: And also does that really inaccurate? Yeah?
12:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, And doesn't that affect the foundations then of the
12:05
Speaker 1: pocket overall pocket management exactly?
12:08
Speaker 2: If it affects everything because your timing's off. So now
12:10
Speaker 2: you don't know how long you should have waited. Are
12:12
Speaker 2: you too late? You know, if you're late to the
12:15
Speaker 2: first a quick slant and that's your first read and
12:18
Speaker 2: you're late for that.
12:19
Speaker 3: Now are you waiting for a second window? Now? Are you? Then?
12:22
Speaker 2: Because you're not so certain about what your timing was,
12:25
Speaker 2: when somebody gets immediate pressure, you're not handling this way right.
12:29
Speaker 2: When they fix that with Caleb Williams and they got
12:31
Speaker 2: rid of that coach, Thomas Brown came in there and
12:34
Speaker 2: they just like simplified it and then them and he
12:36
Speaker 2: knew what his drops were. He went from being his
12:39
Speaker 2: like production went to being borderline elite for the year
12:43
Speaker 2: compared to other quarterbacks because he knew what he was
12:45
Speaker 2: supposed to do. So Ward may have that problem. I
12:49
Speaker 2: think he's a dynamic player, but if you see him
12:52
Speaker 2: struggle a lot early on, it's going to be because
12:55
Speaker 2: suddenly he's going to be expected to do things off
12:58
Speaker 2: of at the level of timing he can't do, and
13:01
Speaker 2: then he's just going to look good as a as
13:03
Speaker 2: kind of a playground, unstructured, off script guy, and he's
13:07
Speaker 2: going to be more up and down as a scripted
13:10
Speaker 2: guy when it's not a schemed up play like you know,
13:14
Speaker 2: a play action throwback or an RPO or some sort
13:19
Speaker 2: of screen or something where you know there's only one
13:22
Speaker 2: target and he's doing a lot of things to set
13:24
Speaker 2: up that one target. But when it's a timing based
13:27
Speaker 2: three four progression, three step five step drop deal, it
13:32
Speaker 2: might be a little more inconsistent than it was there.
13:35
Speaker 2: But I think he can be he can grow into
13:37
Speaker 2: being a good player. But that's the hurdle to watch.
13:39
Speaker 2: Sure Sanders yep, you know you watch Shuldar Sanders and
13:44
Speaker 2: he's probably the safest of the early round quarterbacks. That
13:48
Speaker 2: are projected to go, and the reason is is that
13:52
Speaker 2: he's got decent fee three step, five step, seven step drops.
13:55
Speaker 2: He's certainly one that reads the defense pretty well. Things
13:58
Speaker 2: that he misses are things that most young players who
14:02
Speaker 2: are good prospects missed. And he tends to also find
14:06
Speaker 2: ways to not make the same mistake twice. So he's
14:10
Speaker 2: good at being able to correct and something that that
14:12
Speaker 2: the defense the skies and he missed and they try
14:15
Speaker 2: it again and he's like, nah my fool, So that's good.
14:18
Speaker 2: He can move around the pocket reasonably well. But he's
14:22
Speaker 2: not a cam Order Jason or Jackson Milroe type of mover.
14:27
Speaker 2: You know, he's learned Jackson Jason, Jackson Dart, Yeah, Jackson Dart,
14:32
Speaker 2: but more thinking about Melville Row Milrose, he's not that dynamic.
14:36
Speaker 2: He's more of a Geno Smith Baker Mayfield to a
14:42
Speaker 2: tongue of by Low, a type of mover. Someone that
14:45
Speaker 2: can make, you know, avoid the first point of pressure,
14:47
Speaker 2: maybe avoid two points of pressure either in succession or
14:52
Speaker 2: or you know, if they're both coming from one side
14:54
Speaker 2: of the field. He can do that, but he's not
14:56
Speaker 2: going to do things that are so dynamic that you're
14:59
Speaker 2: gonna consistently see it at a level that you saw
15:02
Speaker 2: it at Colorado. You know, Baker Mayfield did a lot
15:06
Speaker 2: of stuff at Texas A and M where in Oklahoma
15:10
Speaker 2: where you're like, oh, look at him move and scramble
15:12
Speaker 2: and do all that stuff, and you think he's like
15:14
Speaker 2: the next Russell Wilson, And then you realize in Cleveland
15:18
Speaker 2: with a good offensive line that he still wasn't that
15:22
Speaker 2: great a mover. He's a chain mover who can make
15:25
Speaker 2: a couple of people miss. That's fine, but he had
15:27
Speaker 2: to acclimate to that and oftentimes made mistakes because he
15:31
Speaker 2: didn't understand that maybe the NFL, you know, a three
15:35
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty pound defensive tackle was quicker than he was.
15:38
Speaker 2: And I think that Shador may have to make that acclimation.
15:42
Speaker 2: But from that standpoint, the arm's good enough, the mobility's
15:45
Speaker 2: good enough, the play reading has potential there. It's just
15:50
Speaker 2: are you going to get a player in the first
15:52
Speaker 2: round that you feel like is going to be able
15:54
Speaker 2: to lead a team when things aren't going well and
15:58
Speaker 2: do something dynamic like Jason you know, like Jalen Hurts, right,
16:02
Speaker 2: you know, are you going to be able to have
16:03
Speaker 2: that now? You're not going to get that. But if
16:06
Speaker 2: the team's great, can he give you what Matt Ryan
16:09
Speaker 2: gave you, if you know, with a strong offense, and
16:12
Speaker 2: get you deep into the playoffs or in a super
16:14
Speaker 2: Bowl or even close to winning a super Bowl if
16:17
Speaker 2: your defense doesn't crap out on right, you know, yes,
16:21
Speaker 2: Shador Sanders could have possibly develop into that. It's just
16:25
Speaker 2: the question then becomes, do you want that, you want
16:28
Speaker 2: to take an early first round pick on that, or
16:30
Speaker 2: do you want to build your defense and then get
16:32
Speaker 2: a player or a veteran who can offer that to
16:35
Speaker 2: you that you know is a more known quality quantity. Yep, yep,
16:39
Speaker 2: So I guess the last one. Jackson Dart Yeah, yeah,
16:41
Speaker 2: what are your thoughts here?
16:43
Speaker 3: I think he's a bit manufactured by the draft media
16:46
Speaker 3: to try and make it.
16:47
Speaker 1: I was wondering if yeah, I was wondering if you
16:49
Speaker 1: were going to say that, yeah.
16:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a bit manufactured. But I think that there's
16:53
Speaker 2: potential there. Maybe it's that they're squinting a little hard
16:57
Speaker 2: and when you squint hard enough you can kind.
16:59
Speaker 3: Of see it.
17:01
Speaker 2: Short and low end, intermediate range of the field, very good,
17:08
Speaker 2: good footwork, quick, someone that you know RPOs, screens, timing,
17:13
Speaker 2: passing game, in the quick game, ability to like move
17:16
Speaker 2: around and have a moving pocket and throw on the move.
17:19
Speaker 2: Think like if he went to the Los Angeles Rams
17:22
Speaker 2: and he get the SAT behind Garoppolo and Stafford for
17:27
Speaker 2: a year or two, and you know he would fit
17:31
Speaker 2: that offense because there's the routes are crossing the middle
17:35
Speaker 2: of the field. He's able to move around, use that
17:38
Speaker 2: play action game, benefit that from that run game. But
17:40
Speaker 2: anything over twenty five yards is scattershot right now, Okay,
17:44
Speaker 2: And there's not a lot of rhyme or reason because
17:47
Speaker 2: sometimes it is he moves in the pocket and then
17:50
Speaker 2: his front foot's too far from his shoulder, and now
17:53
Speaker 2: his feet are too far apart in and he's not accurate.
17:55
Speaker 2: Other times his feet are perfect and he's not accurate.
17:58
Speaker 2: And it's not he's always long, he's always short, or
18:00
Speaker 2: he's always behind or always ahead. It's different every time, right,
18:04
Speaker 2: And that's that's a little scary. So I think there's
18:08
Speaker 2: potential there for him to be a starter, But pumping
18:11
Speaker 2: him up to this early of a round is you
18:14
Speaker 2: know how the NFL looks at this, because they have
18:16
Speaker 2: a thirty eight percent hit rate, and they have a
18:19
Speaker 2: very old school mentality that is, like, you know, Bill
18:23
Speaker 2: Pollion was a great GM. Bill Pollion's ability to stay
18:29
Speaker 2: evolved with the game was not so strong as evidence
18:32
Speaker 2: with his view of that Lamar Jackson was a running back, right, Okay,
18:36
Speaker 2: But from people I talked to, they say, probably at
18:41
Speaker 2: least sixty percent of the NFL still sees it this way.
18:44
Speaker 2: You know, another forty percent has embraced a very different
18:48
Speaker 2: point of view, right, But the sixty the other sixty
18:51
Speaker 2: percent is like, oh, Jalen Hurts not really a quarterback,
18:55
Speaker 2: you know, you know, we want the big dowie looking
19:00
Speaker 2: dude with the square job, but like he's kind of
19:02
Speaker 2: got you know, he if he can move, it's a bonus.
19:05
Speaker 2: But he can speak at my country club about the
19:08
Speaker 2: old people wrinkling their nose and Karen's telling them to
19:11
Speaker 2: get out, then maybe it's a you know, it's a
19:14
Speaker 2: different story. But and they and and I think a
19:16
Speaker 2: lot of that is a sub is an unconscious bias,
19:20
Speaker 2: and that you see with people in corporate America who
19:22
Speaker 2: experienced the same things. But Dart is kind of the
19:26
Speaker 2: oh he looks like he could be something good. Then
19:29
Speaker 2: they're going to pour their own resources into that where
19:32
Speaker 2: someone may be more qualified, but they they like that
19:34
Speaker 2: he's you know, It's like I knew someone who didn't
19:37
Speaker 2: get a job at first because the boss liked the guy,
19:42
Speaker 2: the English guy who had that accent, and then they
19:46
Speaker 2: and then they ended up hiring her, and she she
19:49
Speaker 2: was great, but then she ended up leaving for a
19:52
Speaker 2: better job, and then they they hired that guy and
19:56
Speaker 2: he's lame, you know.
19:57
Speaker 3: But you know that they the optics were like there.
20:02
Speaker 2: You know, I mean, the qualifications all look good on
20:04
Speaker 2: the bullet points, the school and all that, but when
20:07
Speaker 2: you looked at experience, you looked at what they actually
20:09
Speaker 2: had to do, the other person blew the Englishman out
20:13
Speaker 2: of the water. So it's like Dart's kind of like
20:16
Speaker 2: that Englishman with a lot of the bullet points, but
20:19
Speaker 2: maybe how you actually process information, how things that you
20:24
Speaker 2: can't really teach aren't aren't completely there. And so in
20:30
Speaker 2: the right system, I think he can be good, kind
20:32
Speaker 2: of like Jimmy Garoppolo. In the right system, he could
20:35
Speaker 2: be good enough. But could he get to that next
20:38
Speaker 2: level or is he gonna need a pair of depends
20:41
Speaker 2: In the playoffs on fourth and seven when he's got
20:45
Speaker 2: to do something and the things are going down and
20:48
Speaker 2: he completely short circuits. And you know that's Jimmy Garoppolo.
20:53
Speaker 2: He was always that way. So you know, Dart, Yeah, Dart,
20:59
Speaker 2: We'll see maybe he gets there.
21:00
Speaker 1: Okay, sounds good. Well, folks, we are going to take
21:03
Speaker 1: a real quick break, and when we come back, we're
21:05
Speaker 1: gonna get into some running back talk and some tight
21:08
Speaker 1: end talk as well with Matt. Stick with us. We'll
21:10
Speaker 1: be back in just a bit. All right, We are
21:14
Speaker 1: back again with Matt Waldman from the Rookie Scouting Portfolio
21:19
Speaker 1: Matt Waldman RSP dot com. He's on a ton of
21:23
Speaker 1: social media sites at Matt Waldman search him out. Great
21:26
Speaker 1: great work. And Matt, as we're moving along with our
21:29
Speaker 1: conversation here, want to get into the running back position.
21:32
Speaker 1: It's something we've been talking about, of course, a lot
21:34
Speaker 1: over the years that you've been coming on this podcast.
21:37
Speaker 1: Last year when you were on the show, talked about
21:40
Speaker 1: how running back has been a bit quote devalued over
21:44
Speaker 1: the years in terms of the NFL draft. But then
21:47
Speaker 1: we see established players in the league like Saquon Barkley
21:51
Speaker 1: and Derrick Henry really doing magnificent things on the football
21:54
Speaker 1: field and are really a key cog within their particular offense.
21:59
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got in this upcoming draft Ashton Johnty.
22:03
Speaker 1: He may be one of those very special running backs
22:05
Speaker 1: of the future. Amarion Hampton and Travian Henderson are also
22:10
Speaker 1: very good running backs coming out of this draft as well.
22:13
Speaker 1: Do you see the majority of these running backs falling
22:16
Speaker 1: to perhaps maybe second round or you know, Day two
22:21
Speaker 1: of the draft based on where the value of the
22:23
Speaker 1: running back position is or has the running back drafting
22:27
Speaker 1: philosophy maybe altered a bit because of these veterans in
22:31
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry and some others around the
22:34
Speaker 1: NFL who are doing really good things for their offenses
22:36
Speaker 1: around the league. What are your thoughts here?
22:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I doubt it because I think, Okay, we talked
22:40
Speaker 2: about last year is that while they're been devalued, what
22:44
Speaker 2: we're seeing is that there is a shift in how
22:46
Speaker 2: running backs are being used.
22:48
Speaker 3: And what you'll see is that.
22:52
Speaker 2: Is that they're devalued from a standpoint of cost because
22:55
Speaker 2: there's a glut of talent. Yep, Okay, it's it's not
22:59
Speaker 2: that they're aren't there are certain top talents that when
23:02
Speaker 2: you match with a team that wants to run the
23:05
Speaker 2: ball against these defenses spread out, who have been trying
23:09
Speaker 2: to put a governor over the spread offenses. Because that's
23:13
Speaker 2: what happened, you have the spread offenses. Chip Kelly came in,
23:15
Speaker 2: started to spread things out. Then the teams started to
23:18
Speaker 2: follow suit, and eventually the arms race came to the
23:21
Speaker 2: point where you had Patrick Mahomes throwing the ball over
23:23
Speaker 2: Buddy's head and all over the field. And defenses in
23:26
Speaker 2: college were like, starting, we're experiencing this first, and they
23:31
Speaker 2: started recruiting players and using them at linebacker who used
23:34
Speaker 2: to be like safeties and you know, and you have smaller, quicker,
23:39
Speaker 2: faster defenders who could cover sideline the sideline. But then
23:44
Speaker 2: defenses in the NFL started getting those types of players
23:47
Speaker 2: and they decided, we're going to stop the passing game,
23:50
Speaker 2: at least the vertical passing game. We're gonna play a
23:52
Speaker 2: lot of umbrella coverages. And so now, which is what
23:56
Speaker 2: I've been thinking talking about for years, is like once
23:58
Speaker 2: that happened, you're going to see more teams go, well,
24:01
Speaker 2: now we can run gap plays again, which is pulling guards,
24:04
Speaker 2: toss plays, you know, plays where it's set up to
24:07
Speaker 2: one crease and the and all the resources that you
24:09
Speaker 2: marshal on the offensive line and then the backfield as
24:12
Speaker 2: blockers are to hit one crease and you can overpower
24:17
Speaker 2: these smaller defenders do it very well, exactly they They
24:22
Speaker 2: did it so well with DeAndre Swift too. I would
24:25
Speaker 2: tell you needed a compass attached to his hind heart
24:28
Speaker 2: sometimes to actually find creases between the tackles. But when
24:32
Speaker 2: you when Jalen Hurts occupies one to three defenders in
24:35
Speaker 2: the box and you have fewer of them that deal
24:38
Speaker 2: with you get much more straightforward creases. And Swift is
24:41
Speaker 2: great in the open field. He's a good He's a
24:43
Speaker 2: good enough pass catcher between inside the between the tackles
24:48
Speaker 2: type of runner. He is not Saquon Barkley. I've been
24:50
Speaker 2: saying since last year on my shows that the Revenge,
24:54
Speaker 2: the Saquon Barkley Revenge Tour is coming to Philadelphia. Yeah,
24:57
Speaker 2: like that's you know, And then I was and then
25:00
Speaker 2: my cohort host was saying, we were talking about Derek
25:03
Speaker 2: Henry and say, nothing's wrong with Derrick Henry except that
25:06
Speaker 2: he plays for the Titans.
25:08
Speaker 3: There's the speed and the burst is.
25:10
Speaker 2: Still there, and we're gonna wish cast him going to Baltimore, right, okay,
25:14
Speaker 2: And that's what we saw, okay. So you know, when
25:18
Speaker 2: you have rare talents like that, it's wise to use
25:21
Speaker 2: them in the way that you can't. The problem is
25:24
Speaker 2: is that there are a lot of good talents. So
25:28
Speaker 2: running back is a lot like a Hollywood casting call
25:31
Speaker 2: where you widen the net and you say, I want
25:34
Speaker 2: all lead actors between the age of thirty five and
25:36
Speaker 2: seventy five, right, okay or eighty at this point. So
25:41
Speaker 2: you can probably have Jack Nicholson probably in there, but
25:44
Speaker 2: you can still have like Tom Hardy, you know. So
25:47
Speaker 2: it's like and and Bat, Brad Pitt and whoever in between.
25:51
Speaker 2: Whatever your flavor and what you're looking for a cucumber batch, you.
25:55
Speaker 3: Know all of that. You know, so you can go,
25:58
Speaker 3: You can go in a wide range of things. And
26:00
Speaker 3: the NFL knows that.
26:02
Speaker 2: So why are they going to spend a first round
26:03
Speaker 2: or second round pick on someone unless it's a perfect
26:06
Speaker 2: fit and they think that he's a special player or
26:10
Speaker 2: a player who can ignite their offense. Like the Lions,
26:14
Speaker 2: they looked at Swift and said, we got Swift, but
26:16
Speaker 2: we think that Jamier gibbs Can actually has a compass
26:19
Speaker 2: between the tackles, and we got we got David Montgomery.
26:24
Speaker 2: We want to do a one two punch. We already
26:26
Speaker 2: built our line. It's really strong. Yeah, we're going to
26:29
Speaker 2: trade Swift away. The Eagles wants a little bit of that. Sure,
26:33
Speaker 2: good for us, you know, and then they do that
26:35
Speaker 2: and that works. So this year, I would say Ashton
26:39
Speaker 2: Gent is probably that guy who has the best chance
26:45
Speaker 2: of elevating an offense as an early round pick. Okay,
26:48
Speaker 2: he's got great run stamina. That's what I talk about
26:51
Speaker 2: a lot in that. You know, when you look at
26:53
Speaker 2: the great running backs in history, and I would even
26:56
Speaker 2: say that Leshawn McCoy would qualify in that regard as
27:01
Speaker 2: one of the as a great running back in his peak,
27:05
Speaker 2: Lashan McCoy, Jamal Charles, Barry Sanders, La Danian, Tomlinson, you know,
27:12
Speaker 2: Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Earl Campbell, Marshawn Lynch. I would
27:17
Speaker 2: put in this category. Okay, Adrian Peterson. They all they're
27:21
Speaker 2: very different backs, you know, some of them are in
27:24
Speaker 2: completely different universes. Barry, you would never confuse Barry Sanders
27:29
Speaker 2: with Jim Brown, right right, you know.
27:31
Speaker 3: But what they have in.
27:32
Speaker 2: Common is that at the beginning of a play, when
27:36
Speaker 2: they have to make defenders miss or run through tackles
27:38
Speaker 2: in the box, the energy that they're able to deliver
27:43
Speaker 2: to an intensity in which they play is very strong.
27:47
Speaker 2: And then at the end of a play, fifty yards
27:49
Speaker 2: downfield and maybe they've covered seventy five of the how
27:52
Speaker 2: much is they get zagonated to do to work around
27:54
Speaker 2: a defense. At the end of a play, they still
27:57
Speaker 2: have more energy to execute similar time, some moves against
28:01
Speaker 2: defenders who are in pursuit, who look.
28:04
Speaker 3: More worn out.
28:05
Speaker 2: It's like they're the guys in the late rounds of
28:08
Speaker 2: a boxing match who are out punching and still have
28:11
Speaker 2: more energy and have more power than their opponent. And
28:17
Speaker 2: Ashton Genti has that. He has that run stamina, and
28:21
Speaker 2: he can do it on his eighteenth carry, his twentieth carry,
28:25
Speaker 2: He can do it on his eighteenth carry, on his
28:28
Speaker 2: second run of fifty yards in the game, or his
28:30
Speaker 2: fourth run of fifty yards in the game, and he's
28:33
Speaker 2: still shedding guys in ways that you go. He still
28:36
Speaker 2: has the energy to do that. It's like watching you know,
28:38
Speaker 2: Marshall Lynch's beast Quake runs against the Saints and against Arizona,
28:44
Speaker 2: and you go, he doesn't look like he's you know,
28:47
Speaker 2: blowing by people, but the energy that you see with
28:51
Speaker 2: them playing, you're like, how's he still doing.
28:54
Speaker 3: That at the ten when he was.
28:56
Speaker 2: Starting at the twenty on the other side of the field.
29:00
Speaker 2: So Jens has some of that. So I think he's
29:03
Speaker 2: probably the early round guy. I think people are trying
29:06
Speaker 2: to put Hampton and Henderson in that range, and somebody
29:10
Speaker 2: might buy on that, yeah, but I think that there's
29:13
Speaker 2: a gap, okay, And I'd say Henderson is what people
29:17
Speaker 2: hope de Andres Swift could be. He is a good
29:21
Speaker 2: gap runner. He does short circuit on zone runs more
29:24
Speaker 2: often when it's not unbelievably clean gap, it can be
29:27
Speaker 2: a dirtier run on gap and he'll hit that crease
29:30
Speaker 2: and hit it hard. But if there's a lot of
29:32
Speaker 2: penetration in the backfield, his game short circuits. But you
29:35
Speaker 2: want him in open space. You're going to try and
29:37
Speaker 2: get him there and he's going to do great work
29:40
Speaker 2: in open space and in gap. So if he's running
29:44
Speaker 2: mostly gap, you've got yourself what people hope De Andre
29:48
Speaker 2: Swift could become and that's really good.
29:51
Speaker 3: Hampton.
29:52
Speaker 2: Hampton's got power, He's got top end speed. It takes
29:55
Speaker 2: them a little longer to get the top end speed. He
29:57
Speaker 2: gets blown up as a pass protector, even though the
30:00
Speaker 2: people who count how many times he was successful, you know,
30:04
Speaker 2: that's great. But when he faces real NFL level of competition,
30:08
Speaker 2: people who actually know how to legitimately use their hands,
30:11
Speaker 2: legitimately know how to set up a defender when they're
30:13
Speaker 2: coming down the chuote between the guard and the center
30:15
Speaker 2: and omar and Hampton drops his head because he thinks
30:20
Speaker 2: maybe that third eye on the top of his helmet
30:23
Speaker 2: has twenty fifteen vision, right, you know, he realizes that
30:28
Speaker 2: there's something covering up that high and the defenders go, oh,
30:33
Speaker 2: you're just telling me that. You're telling me what you're
30:35
Speaker 2: doing right now, Let me work around you. Let me
30:38
Speaker 2: grab your pads and throw you to the ground. Let
30:41
Speaker 2: me can you like you're a center on a kickoff,
30:43
Speaker 2: you know, right, you know, I mean they're gonna do
30:46
Speaker 2: all of that to him if he doesn't fix that.
30:47
Speaker 3: So it's not it's not unalterable. He can fix the stuff.
30:51
Speaker 2: But he might be a guy that needs a better
30:53
Speaker 2: fit early on for people to go, oh, he's going
30:57
Speaker 2: to be good, right, But if you put him in
30:59
Speaker 2: an off and say you're the man and we expect
31:01
Speaker 2: you to do all that stuff, they might be looking
31:03
Speaker 2: for a veteran early on.
31:05
Speaker 3: I got you all right?
31:06
Speaker 1: Sounds good. Great running back talk here, and these prospects
31:11
Speaker 1: are going to be interesting to follow in terms of
31:12
Speaker 1: their journey in the NFL for sure, Matt. You know,
31:16
Speaker 1: before we get to our next break here, I wanted
31:18
Speaker 1: to dive into the tight end position with you. And
31:22
Speaker 1: I'm coming from this, of course as an Eagles fan,
31:25
Speaker 1: someone who follows this Eagles team, and they may be
31:27
Speaker 1: looking to draft their tight end of the future due
31:31
Speaker 1: to the situation with Dallas Goddard. I it's doubtful they're
31:36
Speaker 1: going to use their first pick of the draft on
31:39
Speaker 1: a tight end, at least in my opinion. Who knows
31:41
Speaker 1: how he Roseman and company could surprise me, but they
31:43
Speaker 1: may be looking at some talent.
31:45
Speaker 3: On Day two.
31:46
Speaker 1: Perhaps, are there any tight ends that you can really
31:49
Speaker 1: see making a seamless transition to the NFL that maybe
31:54
Speaker 1: are Day two prospects? What are your thoughts here?
31:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, if we say seamless, meaning that they need a
31:59
Speaker 2: year or two due what they can become the absolutely
32:03
Speaker 2: and I'd say Mason Taylor heads that list. I think
32:06
Speaker 2: he's I honestly think he's not far off from being
32:09
Speaker 2: the top tight end on this point. Okay, all right,
32:12
Speaker 2: you know, and the reason being is that he is
32:15
Speaker 2: very smooth as a route runner. He can run all
32:17
Speaker 2: the routes that you'd want him to run. At the
32:19
Speaker 2: tight end position. He is excellent at the catch point.
32:23
Speaker 2: He you know, he can work. You know, he has
32:26
Speaker 2: a strong catch radius in a variety of directions, even
32:28
Speaker 2: thrown against his brakes. He can win against tight coverage,
32:32
Speaker 2: he can win against hard hits. He breaks tackles, makes
32:35
Speaker 2: people miss in the open field. And on top of that,
32:38
Speaker 2: he actually understands how to punch as a blocker. Yeah,
32:40
Speaker 2: he understands how to earn position and sustain against defenders
32:45
Speaker 2: that he's capable of handling physically at his size, which
32:48
Speaker 2: is six five two fifty one. So you know, if
32:51
Speaker 2: he gains a little bit more weight you wanted to
32:53
Speaker 2: do that. I look at him as kind of a
32:55
Speaker 2: better blocking Mark Andrews. That's what he can develop Intobe.
33:00
Speaker 2: You could say that's Dallas Goddard, you know, and just
33:03
Speaker 2: Dallas Goddard just isn't used like Mark and right, it
33:06
Speaker 2: could very possibly be that. So I would argue that
33:09
Speaker 2: he's that guy. If you're looking more of a flavor
33:12
Speaker 2: for you want more of a Sam Laporta type for
33:14
Speaker 2: your offense, because maybe you're the Eagles and you're thinking,
33:17
Speaker 2: we're pretty confident in what we have at our offensive line,
33:21
Speaker 2: so we don't need a block as much blocking skill
33:25
Speaker 2: on that. Harold Fannon is very much in a lot
33:29
Speaker 2: of ways athletically a carbon copy of Sam Laporta and
33:33
Speaker 2: a good pass catcher. So that's not a bad one there.
33:36
Speaker 2: And then if you're going to look a little bit deeper,
33:39
Speaker 2: you're looking more for a maybe a bargain version of
33:43
Speaker 2: Mason Thomas, maybe Mason Taylor.
33:47
Speaker 3: Maybe you're looking at.
33:47
Speaker 2: Thomas Fadoni of Nebraska. He's six five, two forty three,
33:52
Speaker 2: but he lost that way for the combine, I think
33:54
Speaker 2: to run faster, which he did. Yeah, he's but he's
33:57
Speaker 2: got the acceleration and quickness that it shows up on
34:01
Speaker 2: tape when he probably played closer to two sixty. So
34:03
Speaker 2: he's a back, he's a tight end That could be
34:05
Speaker 2: one of two things, depending on how the coaches want
34:08
Speaker 2: him to be. They say, look Tom, add that muscle back,
34:13
Speaker 2: get that game, that weight, We want you in line
34:15
Speaker 2: a little more.
34:16
Speaker 3: You're going to be more of an underneath type of guy.
34:18
Speaker 2: Then he could be maybe a you know, middle class
34:21
Speaker 2: Pat Fryarmouth. Okay, okay, And that's that's pretty good. He
34:25
Speaker 2: can run after the catch, really good hands. I mean,
34:28
Speaker 2: this is a good all around back. But if they say,
34:30
Speaker 2: you know what, we'd rather you were drafting you earlier,
34:34
Speaker 2: third round, fourth round because we have a plan for
34:37
Speaker 2: you and we want you to succeed Dallas, but we're
34:39
Speaker 2: gonna use you more as a receiver of the scene,
34:41
Speaker 2: things like that, then he won't be Dallas, but he
34:44
Speaker 2: could be more of a middle class zach Ertz.
34:47
Speaker 3: Okay.
34:48
Speaker 2: Now, and those are the cops that I gave to
34:50
Speaker 2: to to Fidonius. So he's probably an interesting guy in
34:55
Speaker 2: that area of the field.
34:57
Speaker 1: Pretty sure the Philadelphia Eagles, folks, are going to be
35:00
Speaker 1: a tight end. When and where remains to be seen,
35:03
Speaker 1: But great, great information from that here on the tight
35:06
Speaker 1: end position. We're gonna take another quick break here, folks,
35:09
Speaker 1: and we will be back with our final segment just
35:13
Speaker 1: about some under the radar players in this NFL draft.
35:16
Speaker 1: Matt is going to dive into it with us. Let's
35:18
Speaker 1: take that break now, we'll be back in just a bit.
35:22
Speaker 1: All right, We are back again with Matt Waldman from
35:25
Speaker 1: the Rookie Scouting Portfolio Matt WALDMANARSP dot com and at
35:30
Speaker 1: matth eh excuse me, at Matt Waldman on various social
35:34
Speaker 1: media sites. And as we're concluding things here, Matt wanted
35:38
Speaker 1: to talk about, as we do every year, the under
35:42
Speaker 1: the radar prospects that we really should be keeping our
35:45
Speaker 1: eyes on, those diamonds in the rough. You and I
35:47
Speaker 1: we talk about these gentlemen and draft prospects every year.
35:51
Speaker 1: Do you have a few players, Matt, that you're gonna
35:54
Speaker 1: be honing in on that really fit into this under
35:57
Speaker 1: the radar mold here? What are your thoughts, buddy?
36:00
Speaker 3: Sure, there's a lot of them.
36:01
Speaker 2: You know, start at quarterback, and I would say that
36:03
Speaker 2: Jalen Milroe, even though he's been invited to the draft early,
36:06
Speaker 2: there's possibility he'll probably slide to the second or third round,
36:08
Speaker 2: right and maybe there's a team that loves him enough
36:12
Speaker 2: to make him a first round player. Now, if you
36:13
Speaker 2: ask me, based on how that, I think the NFL
36:17
Speaker 2: should be looking at quarterbacks. And what that means is
36:20
Speaker 2: that they should have a better idea of what processing
36:23
Speaker 2: actually is rather than have a test that doesn't and
36:26
Speaker 2: may not be and still may need some time. And
36:28
Speaker 2: I think s DOO will get better at what they do.
36:30
Speaker 2: But I would say that processing isn't whiteboard and test
36:35
Speaker 2: taking information. It's really about how quickly and confidently you
36:42
Speaker 2: react and act on information. Alex Smith had a very
36:47
Speaker 2: fast processor in terms of seeing what he needed to do,
36:53
Speaker 2: but he was more like an economist on saying, oh
36:56
Speaker 2: that's a data point, let me wait for a few
36:57
Speaker 2: more data points for I actually act on it. And
37:00
Speaker 2: that was the problem with his career is that he
37:03
Speaker 2: saw it fast but didn't confidently react to it, whereas
37:07
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes sees it fast and acts instantaneously to it.
37:11
Speaker 2: Rock Purty sees it fast, instantaneously, reacts to it late
37:15
Speaker 2: round guy, then you know, or Joe Burrow sees it fast,
37:19
Speaker 2: instantaneously reacts to it. That's the difference. So you know,
37:24
Speaker 2: Jalen Nolro has that he has that in his game,
37:28
Speaker 2: not only does he have it, he can integrate it
37:31
Speaker 2: into situations where pressure's coming and pushing the pocket into
37:36
Speaker 2: his lap, and he can make those quiet footed movements
37:41
Speaker 2: to just keep his eyes downfield and make a small
37:43
Speaker 2: adjustment and throw the ball accurately while manipulating defenders in
37:50
Speaker 2: the process of doing it on a second read, not
37:52
Speaker 2: a first read. You know, you know that tired that
37:57
Speaker 2: tired former You know that tired former player getting paid
38:01
Speaker 2: millions of dollars to like commentate on games. Yes, and
38:04
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about Ross stuck or Ross is great,
38:07
Speaker 2: you know, Chris Fieldman. But you know some of these
38:10
Speaker 2: guys who are like doing commercials and like, and you know,
38:15
Speaker 2: probably aren't studying as hard as they need to anymore.
38:18
Speaker 2: But they go look at how he drops back during
38:21
Speaker 2: his drop and looks off the safety to one side
38:24
Speaker 2: of the field and holds them there and goes to
38:26
Speaker 2: the other, something that a good high school quarterback does. Right, Okay,
38:31
Speaker 2: And we're talking about middle linebackers that you're moving while
38:34
Speaker 2: you're getting while your guard's getting pushed into your lap,
38:37
Speaker 2: and it's your second or third read that you're deciding
38:40
Speaker 2: to move that guy, right, And it's very clear you're
38:42
Speaker 2: manipulating him and then firing a ball on a mesh play,
38:46
Speaker 2: you know, to the opposite side while that's going on.
38:49
Speaker 2: Mil Road does that. He is the only quarterback I've
38:51
Speaker 2: seen do that in this class on a repeated basis.
38:55
Speaker 3: Can he does?
38:56
Speaker 2: He have some issues with, you know, holding on to
38:59
Speaker 2: the ball. He's blindsided a little bit. His hands are
39:02
Speaker 2: bigger than what were measured in the Senior Bowl. Does
39:05
Speaker 2: he have does he He doesn't have great touch on
39:09
Speaker 2: certain types of routes like the moon balls. Russell Wilson
39:12
Speaker 2: throws on cover two or fade routes in the in
39:16
Speaker 2: the red area. He's got to work on that a
39:18
Speaker 2: little bit. But he's got the quickest release in this class.
39:20
Speaker 2: He's got the most compact release I've seen since Dan Marino.
39:24
Speaker 2: To be honest with you, Wow, he's got good drop
39:26
Speaker 2: back footwork. He's already he and he is an academic Heisman.
39:32
Speaker 2: And you know, the Senior Bowl stuff was a little
39:35
Speaker 2: overrated in terms of the issues where they were He's inaccurate.
39:40
Speaker 2: He wasn't on the same page with some of his receivers.
39:42
Speaker 2: Receivers went on the same page with him, So you know,
39:45
Speaker 2: looking at this overall. Honestly, cam Ward may be the
39:49
Speaker 2: top quarterback on my board, but it's only because there's
39:52
Speaker 2: some things that when I just charted and graded based
39:56
Speaker 2: on charting, I didn't see enough evidence of that I
40:00
Speaker 2: actually saw on film to give, you know, overall, to
40:04
Speaker 2: give him the grade I wanted to give him. If
40:07
Speaker 2: if what I saw on film is like translates better
40:10
Speaker 2: and it's not just strictly the charting part, he'd be
40:14
Speaker 2: easily the number one quarterback in this class.
40:16
Speaker 3: For me, Wow, I would.
40:18
Speaker 2: I'd honestly say, if you're if you're drafting to like
40:21
Speaker 2: give people a year or two and and and also
40:25
Speaker 2: look towards upside as a bigger value point. I would
40:30
Speaker 2: subtract one to two rounds from every player except Jalen
40:33
Speaker 2: no Road from where they're projected to go, and that's
40:36
Speaker 2: where they should get drafted. And No Roe would be
40:38
Speaker 2: the number one quarterback and he'd be taking him in
40:40
Speaker 2: the second or third round. That's how I see this class. Now,
40:44
Speaker 2: if we're going to look at him, there's another quarterback
40:47
Speaker 2: who is not going to get drafted, I bet, and
40:49
Speaker 2: if he does, it's going to be in the seventh round.
40:51
Speaker 2: Oka and it's going to be Curtis Rourke of Indiana.
40:54
Speaker 2: Curtis Rourke is very opposite of jaln Nolroe athletically. You know,
40:58
Speaker 2: he's a pocket quarterback, but kind of like you know,
41:02
Speaker 2: a middle class Tom Brady in the sense that he
41:05
Speaker 2: sees and feels the pocket well, feels pressure well, and
41:08
Speaker 2: can move efficiently and then throw the ball with accuracy.
41:12
Speaker 2: And he's got some accuracy downfield and into the opposite
41:16
Speaker 2: hash and and he's someone that can pick a part
41:18
Speaker 2: of defense and listen, he tours a cl and at
41:23
Speaker 2: Miami of Ohio a couple of years ago, and then
41:26
Speaker 2: when he had and he came back and rehabbed it
41:28
Speaker 2: just fine. And then he went to Indiana a year
41:32
Speaker 2: after that for the next the following year after the return,
41:37
Speaker 2: and he towards a cl in August. Nobody knew it.
41:41
Speaker 2: Nobody knew it. He led them to a college football
41:44
Speaker 2: playoff game, and nobody astonishing, Yeah, nobody knew that he
41:49
Speaker 2: was playing like playing it that way until January. Oh,
41:52
Speaker 2: by the way, towards a cl in August. This is
41:54
Speaker 2: the toughest nails kid. And if all he tore was
41:57
Speaker 2: his acl if it isn't the man thiscuss or other
42:01
Speaker 2: tendons or ligaments along with it. That's not as big
42:05
Speaker 2: of a deal. Even if it's a long wherehab, He'll
42:07
Speaker 2: be as healthy as he ever was, so it won't
42:09
Speaker 2: be an issue. So, yeah, this is a kid you
42:11
Speaker 2: sign as a UDFA seventh round pick something like that
42:15
Speaker 2: and give him a red shirt season. Yeah, and at
42:18
Speaker 2: the very least you're gonna have a good backup. At
42:20
Speaker 2: the very least good backup running backs Taj Brooks. I've
42:25
Speaker 2: talked about him a lot you have in Texas Tech.
42:29
Speaker 2: I call him Lemonade because he basically mitigates bad losses,
42:32
Speaker 2: turns lemons into lemonade. Very smart, efficient runner with speed, quickness,
42:37
Speaker 2: mostly quickness, and acceleration short area speed.
42:41
Speaker 3: Very good.
42:43
Speaker 2: He's someone that you can make a be back. He
42:46
Speaker 2: can be a third down back because he's a good blocker,
42:48
Speaker 2: he's a good pass catcher, and he's got more speed
42:52
Speaker 2: than you would expect, and he can run through you
42:54
Speaker 2: or run over you. He could be in every down
42:56
Speaker 2: back that you get in the sixth or seventh round.
42:58
Speaker 2: Because a lot of these running here, I would bet
43:01
Speaker 2: you're gonna see them go from the fourth round. Nine.
43:04
Speaker 2: He may get one or two guys in the first
43:05
Speaker 2: three rounds, maybe three or four in the first rounds
43:08
Speaker 2: if they're a little over zealous, and then you're gonna
43:11
Speaker 2: get a lot of guys in the fifth and sixth round.
43:13
Speaker 2: There's gonna be two or three teams that probably pick
43:16
Speaker 2: two guys after the fourth round, and you're gonna see
43:20
Speaker 2: the one guy and go, oh, I'm excited, and then
43:22
Speaker 2: they picked someone else. It's gonna be like the Jamal
43:24
Speaker 2: Williams Aaron Jones fifth and sixth round for the Packers
43:27
Speaker 2: years ago. But yeah, TOAJ Brooks is a good one
43:31
Speaker 2: from that sentine. Rishard Smith, if you're looking for a
43:33
Speaker 2: scat back, used to be wide receiver at Miami, then
43:37
Speaker 2: played running back at SNU for one year, and you know,
43:41
Speaker 2: it's kind of like Tyrone Tracy but there, but they
43:45
Speaker 2: didn't have to move him from wide receiver. He's like
43:49
Speaker 2: he was a legitimately okay college wide receiver, wherest Tyrone
43:53
Speaker 2: Tracy was a special teamer who was like not so good.
43:56
Speaker 2: He was he really fixed, he really worked hard and
44:00
Speaker 2: also showed a flair for running back. Brishard Smith does too,
44:04
Speaker 2: but he's more of a scat back than who's great
44:07
Speaker 2: and open space, but more balance than you would expect
44:09
Speaker 2: for between the tackles. Guy running wide receiver. You know,
44:14
Speaker 2: there's a lot more running backs. I could add to
44:16
Speaker 2: that much, but those are two wide receiver. Andrew Armstrong
44:19
Speaker 2: at Arkansas, the six four to two hundred pound guy
44:23
Speaker 2: who has great length, really uses it well in the
44:26
Speaker 2: vertical game. Kind of a Hikeen Knicks type of player.
44:29
Speaker 2: Not an inordinately fast, but very quick so you can
44:33
Speaker 2: get on top of you early, and then uses size
44:36
Speaker 2: to maintain or earn the late separation. Tracks the ball fantastically,
44:40
Speaker 2: not just vertically at the boundary, but also running dig routes, comebacks, pearls,
44:46
Speaker 2: and he runs good routes. Man the man. So this
44:49
Speaker 2: is a guy who you know from that standpoint, and
44:53
Speaker 2: Armstrong to me, should be a late round player. That's
44:58
Speaker 2: surprising to me that he didn't get an invited anywhere,
45:00
Speaker 2: but he had his brother suffered a you know, died
45:05
Speaker 2: like a week after he declared his brother was shot
45:09
Speaker 2: by police. He had mental health issues and it was
45:12
Speaker 2: and the police had successfully gotten him to a hospital
45:15
Speaker 2: a couple of times in the past. This time he
45:17
Speaker 2: was harmed and it turned into a tragic fatality. So
45:23
Speaker 2: this was probably just before he would accept any invitations anywhere.
45:27
Speaker 2: I doubt he's probably had to attend a family manage.
45:29
Speaker 2: So he's an under the radar guy. I think Isaiah
45:34
Speaker 2: and Naor of Nebraska. He may be one of the
45:37
Speaker 2: true X receivers in this class that doesn't have many.
45:40
Speaker 2: He's six four two eighteen runs a four four forty.
45:44
Speaker 2: He played at Wyoming and lit it up early on.
45:46
Speaker 2: Then he got recruited by Jerry Sarkisian at Texas and
45:51
Speaker 2: Sarkisian was basically saying this guy and Xavier Worthy, this
45:56
Speaker 2: is my my one two punch and it's going to
45:58
Speaker 2: be great. And then Narra towards a cl and then
46:02
Speaker 2: he was just getting back into the swing of things
46:04
Speaker 2: at Nebraska, and so he was even contemplating staying in the
46:07
Speaker 2: next three year. But he had a good combine. He
46:10
Speaker 2: catches the ball really well, and he's a pretty good
46:13
Speaker 2: route runner on his own merit. So the last one
46:17
Speaker 2: I'll say is Jackson Hawes Georgia Tech tight end okay
46:21
Speaker 2: out of Yale by Georgia back best blocker in this class. Now,
46:27
Speaker 2: whether he can be a pass catcher that I would
46:30
Speaker 2: probably would have wanted to work this kid out if
46:32
Speaker 2: I had that kind of resources and see where his
46:37
Speaker 2: growth potential is as a receiver. I think he can
46:40
Speaker 2: be competent in the short range of the field. But
46:42
Speaker 2: if you're looking for maybe someone to be a six
46:45
Speaker 2: offensive lineman for the Eagles and then hope that he
46:48
Speaker 2: can be a Tucker Craft type who can get fed
46:51
Speaker 2: into the flats and then rumble through people, I think
46:54
Speaker 2: Jackson Hawes can be a nice option folks.
46:57
Speaker 1: Again, he's Matt Waldman from the Rookiees Outing Portfolio Matt
47:02
Speaker 1: Waldman ARSP dot com. Buddy, it was great talking to you.
47:07
Speaker 1: It was fantastic talking to you as always, and I'm
47:10
Speaker 1: hoping that you can join us at some point down
47:12
Speaker 1: the road. We'll talk more prospects, maybe before fantasy football
47:16
Speaker 1: gets into you know, before we get into that season too,
47:21
Speaker 1: because you also do a lot of great fantasy football
47:23
Speaker 1: work as well.
47:24
Speaker 2: Sure you can find me at Footballguys dot com. I'm
47:26
Speaker 2: been a senior staff writer there since two thousand and nine.
47:30
Speaker 2: So the RSP is really kind of like what I
47:32
Speaker 2: do is I give you a pre draft in post
47:34
Speaker 2: draft The pre draft is, you know, a probably one
47:38
Speaker 2: of the most in depth analysis you'll find in the
47:40
Speaker 2: public on quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end.
47:44
Speaker 2: It's over twelve hundred pages this year. It's all bookmarked
47:46
Speaker 2: on PDF form, so you choose your own adventure.
47:49
Speaker 3: You don't have to read it straight through. So I
47:51
Speaker 3: know people who.
47:51
Speaker 2: Religiously like to take off their full two days from
47:54
Speaker 2: work just so that they can read it and have fun.
47:57
Speaker 1: I think back in twenty twenty, I read the whole
48:01
Speaker 1: thing and it took me. It took me a while,
48:06
Speaker 1: and since then I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm like,
48:07
Speaker 1: how does Matt do this?
48:08
Speaker 3: My gosh, But it's one of the yes. This and
48:11
Speaker 3: this and Dane.
48:12
Speaker 2: Bruglers of the Beast are, according to recruiters, the two
48:15
Speaker 2: most purchased guides by NFL people who visit them regularly
48:20
Speaker 2: to talk about players and study, evaluate and talk with players.
48:25
Speaker 2: So you get that, you get a post draft that's
48:27
Speaker 2: much more fantasy oriented. And that's where I talk about
48:29
Speaker 2: fit as well, like where they fit, what they do
48:33
Speaker 2: in the offense. So like I may have Marvin Harrison,
48:35
Speaker 2: I had Marvin Harrison my number two receiver, last year
48:38
Speaker 2: pre draft with Molik Neighbors over him by a good margin,
48:42
Speaker 2: and then Ladd mcconkee when the draft was over. I
48:47
Speaker 2: looked at that's fit and said, Lad mcconkee is going
48:50
Speaker 2: to be a top fifteen overall fantasy producer and his
48:53
Speaker 2: position because of the fit and Marvin Harrison, I don't
48:57
Speaker 2: think is going to even be a top thirty six player,
49:00
Speaker 2: or he'll be in that range, like the low end
49:03
Speaker 2: of that range. And that's exactly what happened.
49:05
Speaker 3: He was right.
49:05
Speaker 2: Folks like you, you know, so I give you kind
49:09
Speaker 2: of both ways of analyzing information. You can find me
49:12
Speaker 2: directly to buy it at Mattwoalman dot com, but you
49:15
Speaker 2: can go to mattwalmanarsb dot com. You see all the
49:18
Speaker 2: free work and free scouting reports that I put out
49:20
Speaker 2: there and where my podcasts are and all that. So
49:22
Speaker 2: thanks again for letting me share that, Jeff, And it's
49:25
Speaker 2: always a pleasure to be able to you.
49:26
Speaker 1: Got it, buddy, And folks, really quick, if you want
49:28
Speaker 1: to follow the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show on various
49:31
Speaker 1: social media sites, here is where we are Instagram, of course,
49:35
Speaker 1: we are on Twitter, slash x. I'm over on TikTok
49:38
Speaker 1: our Facebook page. We're on threads and Blue Sky as well.
49:42
Speaker 1: Eric and I are there. We're going to have Eric
49:45
Speaker 1: on the show this week, and we've got a lot
49:47
Speaker 1: of Phillies talk that we're going to be getting into
49:49
Speaker 1: Matt again, buddy, Thank you so much for taking the time.
49:52
Speaker 1: Always great to talk to you, my friend. Keep doing
49:54
Speaker 1: great work, my friend.
49:56
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Jeff, you too, A right, Bam.
50:01
Speaker 1: That was fantastic, man. I wish I could have you
50:04
Speaker 1: on every week, Matt, you on every week, my gosh.
50:08
Speaker 3: Yes, I appreciate it.
50:10
Speaker 1: That was great. Again, I seriously, I very much appreciate
50:12
Speaker 1: you taking the time. I know your time is valuable,
50:14
Speaker 1: especially during the course of this time of year, especially,
50:17
Speaker 1: so keep up the great work, man.
50:19
Speaker 3: Thank you so very much, and thank you keep hitting
50:21
Speaker 3: me up all right. I always enjoyed doing this.
50:24
Speaker 1: What a great discussion with Matt Gosh. I love having
50:26
Speaker 1: him on every single year right before the draft to
50:29
Speaker 1: talk about the talent that we're going to be seeing
50:31
Speaker 1: in the NFL in the very near future. That's gonna
50:35
Speaker 1: do it for us, folks. We hope that you have
50:37
Speaker 1: enjoyed this PST special. Please feel free to share it
50:40
Speaker 1: with any football enthusiasts. If there's anyone in your network,
50:44
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50:48
Speaker 1: love the NFL Draft, share this podcast episode with them.
50:50
Speaker 1: We think they're really going to enjoy it. So with
50:53
Speaker 1: that being said, everybody, Happy Draft time, take care, We'll
50:56
Speaker 1: catch you next time.